Candle



Sept. 23, 1952 w. B. BYRNES CANDLE Filed July 8, 1949 /N l/ENTOR lliam 5. Byrnes W AT *romvzvds Patented Sept. 23, 1952 My invention relates to new and useful improvements in candles, and particularly to candles which are used for decorative purposes such as on birthday cakes and the like.

It has heretofore been proposed by King in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,714,674 to make candles for purposes of this order in the form of numerals and letters having a plurality of separate wicks molded therein which, when lighted, will illuminate the body of the candle. Where the wicks are spaced apart, they serve to illuminate the body or outline of the candle but they do not form a separate, continuous outline in flame of the letter or numeral defined by the candle in which they are embedded. Furthermore, they do not burn evenly unless spaced very closely and the cost of such candles, due to the necessity of manually inserting a plurality of wicks in the candle molds in uniformly spaced relation to each other, is much higher than is the case with candles embodying my invention.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a comparatively fiat candle molded in the form either of a letter or numeral and which is provided with a substantially continuous wick projecting upwardly substantially throughout the central portion of the candle and which, when lighted, will form a continuous outline in flame defining the same character as the candle of which it is a part.

With these objects in view, my invention includes the novel elements and the combinations and arrangements thereof described below and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. l is a plan view of a numeral embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a section of Fig. 1 in the plane 2-2;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a letter embodying my invention;

Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing a modification;

Fig. 5 is another section similar to Fig. 2 showing a further modification; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a drip catcher showing in dotted outline the numeral 1 illustrated in Fig.

1 when resting thereon.

Referring to the drawingsl is a wax candle molded in the form of the numeral 1 which has been selected merely for illustrative purposes. The candle is preferably flat on top and has a continuous or at least uninterrupted, wick 2, which may be formed of an ordinary cloth tape, molded therein.

Since the tops of the candles, rather than the TED ,s res PATENT O 'FFICEH oANnLE V, t v I v William B. Byrnes, Dalton, Mass. 0 Application July s,1949,seria1No.1os,5s9 Least... (01. w s,

bottoms thereof, are exposed to view, a much better finish can be obtained thereon if the candles are molded up-side-down. When the wax from which they are molded cools in the mold, there is some shrinkage and the bottoms of the candles which are, of course, on the top when the candles are molded, will be slightly concave, as shown at 3, due to the contraction of the wax when it solidifies. In order readily to remove the candles from the molds without using separable molds, a draw should be provided therein so that the sides of the finished candles increase in width slightly from the top to the bottom, as shown at 4.

Due to the shape of some of the numerals and letters, it is not always possible to use a continuous wick throughout and in such cases, as, for example, with the letter A shown in Fig. 3, the wick may comprise two pieces, 5 and 6, which are molded into the central parts of the sides 1 of the A and in the central portion of the cross bar 8. In any case however, the wick should form a substantially uninterrupted outline of the letter or numeral of which it is a part.

Where the wax employed in molding the candles is a hard wax, which is preferable, they will burn without dripping. However, when a comparatively soft wax having a substantially lower melting point than the hard waxes is employed, the candles may be molded with drip gutters 9 and ill on each side of the bottom thereof, as shown in Fig. 4.

Instead of providing drip gutters molded integral with the candle, as shown in Fig. 4, thin sheets, say 0.002" thick, of metal foil ll, preferably pack-rolled aluminum foil which is highly reflective on one side, conforming generally in outline to the outline of the base of the candle but extending outwardly beyond the base, as shown in Fig. 6, may be provided to be placed under the candles or attached thereto by means of pins l2, as shown in Fig. 5. The edges of the foil may be turned up, as shown at l3 in Fig. 5,- to form gutter-like troughs around the entire base of the candles.

In many instances, where the candles can be placed on the cake or the like without danger of v falling off due to movements of the cake, no pins are necessary in the bottoms of the candles, but pins, such as shown at [2 in Fig. 5 and M in Fig. 2, may be inserted in the bottoms of the candles. It is not necessary to mold these pins in place when the candle is molded because they may be merely heated and pushed into the candle where they will be firmly held when the wax around them, which is fnelted or softened when the heated pins are pushed therein, hardens.

It is to be understood that the drawings are merely illustrative and that variations in color, size and general cross-sectional shape of the candles may be varied as desired.

What I claim is:

A decorative candle having a comparatively flat wax body in the form of a character selected from the groupeonsis'ting of the numerals and the letters of the alphabet; a centrally-disposed, upstanding, elongated, flat wick embedded there in with one lateral, marginal edge of said wik exposed on the top of said candle and forming La substantially uninterrupted outline of said character; and drip-catching means comprising a sheet of metal foil having a reflective upper-surface and conforming generally in outline to the outline of the base of said character butprojecting laterally beyond said base and means sciifing said foil to said base.

WILLIAM B. BYRNES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

